Today marks the 128th anniversary of The Ancient One. To celebrate I'll relate a most interesting incident that was reported in the book I read recently about Harry Kenmore's life with Baba. I made a post about my reaction to the book in a post titled Harry Kenmore. The incident occurred some months after Baba's death and I've taken the liberty of quoting from the book:
Tape Transcription - Sunday, August 24, 1969
Eruch and Harry are walking along the Khajgi Rasta Road
engaged in conversation about Baba and His work with the
lepers, when they meet an old Indian farmer. Later they realize
that looks can be deceiving.
Eruch: "Jai Baba. Here is an old man who wants to shake hands."
They are addressing a man they meet on the road. He had a red
turban on his head.
Harry: “He's a big man, isn't he? How tall is he?”
Eruch: “Just feel him, just see his shoulders.”
Harry: “How tall is he, about six foot.”
Eruch: “About six foot two inches, I'd say.”
Harry: “He's a big man in these parts.”
Eruch: "He's an old man too."
Harry: “And what does he do, is he retired?”
Eruch asks the man in an Indian language. The man replies to
Eruch that he does field work. Eruch: “He's a farmer.”
Harry: “Oh, he's a farmer.”
The man laughs.
Harry: "Oh, up in this town, a town nearby?”
Eruch: “Near Yoshindi.”
Harry: “Hmm, How old is he?”
Eruch asks his age and the man says seventy-five.
Harry: “Seventy-five.” Eruch and Harry are laughing. “My God
isn't that a very, very ripe old age.”
Eruch: “Very old age, but he is so strong and hefty.”
Now the man is laughing again.
Harry: “Oh, so strong. He understands English?”
Eruch: “No, no, he says from the gestures he understands."
The man continues to laugh.
Harry: “Oh I see he has a good laugh.”
Eruch: "Jai Baba."
Harry: “Namaste, Jai Baba. Oh he knows Baba.”
Eruch: “Hmm.”
Harry: “He's quite a happy old man isn't he?”
Eruch: "He wanted to embrace us.
Harry: “He did really?”
Eruch: “So, I said simply shake hands.”
Harry: “Why, just because he's a happy fellow?”
Eruch: “No, no, not a happy fellow. I don't know what it is.”
Harry: "Something he saw in us?”
Eruch: “He just came. He was walking on the side road. He came
with all smiles and his arms spread out as if he came to embrace
us."
Harry laughs and says, “Maybe because it's Sunday!”
Eruch: “God, no."
Harry: “You've never seen him?”
Eruch: “No, I haven't seen him. He looked very hefty. How did you
recognize he was hefty?”
Harry: “His distance of his hand above me and the size of his hand,
and the manner in which he shook my hand I could tell that he's
a big fellow. That's pretty good isn't it?”
Eruch: "It's common sense.”
Harry: “Yeah, I mustn't give away my secrets."
They resume the conversation they had before they met the
man.
Tape Transcription – Tuesday, August 26, 1969
The women mandali and Harry are talking about the things he
did during his stay and the unique experience he had with the
farmer.
Harry: “... ...And then we had the, let's see, the walks were very
fine. Did Eruch tell you about the interesting experience we had
Sunday morning? I think it was Sunday morning.”
Mani: “Yes.”
Meheru: “Mehera said she would like to hear it.”
Harry: "Well, this is what happened. We were walking up on the
road along the Rasta. This was Sunday morning and of course,
Eruch did not alert me to it. But a tall man approached us. He
seemed to come out of nowhere. He had on a white dhoti and a
white shirt with an attractive red turban. He was dressed simply
but he was clean. He looked up and he approached us with
outstretched arms. So Eruch stopped us and I asked what are we
stopping for? He said there's a man here who wants to embrace
us.
Mani: “Yes.”
Harry: “You know, we had met farmers on the road and other
people before, but they usually just say Jai Baba and they go on
their way. Or Eruch may have a few words in Marathi about
something - their crops or what not and then they go on their
way. But this gentleman was different, you see.”
Mani: "It's most unusual."
Harry: "Eruch said he wants to embrace us. So Eruch said, wait
shake hands with him. So he put his hand out and we shook
hands. The way he shook hands, it was just as though it was
Baba. And he spoke in a very cryptic tone, very terse answers.
Just one word answers. I said where are you from? He said,
Shinti. I said, what's your occupation? He said, farmer. You
know, just one word.”
Mani: "Yes.”
Harry: “Then I said how old are you? He said seventy-five. Then,
where's your chin” Harry says to Mani. “Then he took hold of
my chin, the way Baba did in playing with me - just like this.”
Mani: “My gosh!”
Harry: “You know, playing just like this. He was very happy,
smiling and we shook hands again. And the rhythm, give me
your hand.” He took Mani's hand. “The rhythm of the hand was
the way Baba would shake hands with me, you know.” Harry
demonstrated to Mani an up and down motion.
Mehera: “Isn't that wonderful.”
Harry: "Well, and then he said jaja - now you can finish your
walk.
Now a farmer never does that.”
Mani: "No."
Harry: “And He didn't seem to have a farmer's hand. You know,
they never say jaja they say, Jai Baba, they bow and they leave.
But he said jaja - keep going with you walk. Just like that he
went down the road. Unfortunately I didn't ask Eruch to turn
back to see if he was in sight. I swear if he had turned around I
bet in ten seconds, he would have been gone. Just like that.
What happened was I was thinking about it all day. Eruch, I
think was thinking about it too. Then in the evening he said, “Do
you remember that fellow on the road that we met with the red
turban?' Then I said, do you think he was an Abdul or
something?” Eruch said, 'No, I don't know. It might have been
Baba because he was very happy, smiling.'
Mani: “And he also laughed.”
Harry: “Yes, as if to say you fool, don't you recognize me or that
kind of an attitude. Eruch also said the same thing. And he only
had business to do with me. Not with Eruch.”
Mani: "No!”
Harry: “You see.
Mehera: Baba told you to come to Meherazad, not to Poona, so
Baba wanted to give you Darshan.”
Harry: “So I said to Eruch, why didn't you let him embrace us
when he came over to us? Eruch said, 'Well, you know how are
you to know what might sing out of something.' I said, “That's
ridiculous he came in a very friendly manner, alright!”
Mani: “I'll tell you something. When Eruch told me the story that
morning, I thought that Eruch usually understates things like this
then over. But even when he began telling me, and he told me
how that man looked, he said something strange happened this
morning. He said, 'Harry and I met this native and he was quite
unusual; he did unusual things. First, he approached us with his
arms out stretched towards Harry and wanted to embrace him.'
Eruch said he was so startled. It was all so sudden that he
automatically put out his hand to stop him. He said to the man,
“What do you want?' But even while Eruch was telling me this,
it was very strange to hear it. One had such a thrill of not
knowing what was coming. Now, after I heard the whole story I
came and told Mehera. Even as I began to tell her, she had that
same kind of look in her eye as I had when Eruch was telling
me. Because she had the same feeling that it was Baba.”
Harry: “Do you think it was Baba?”
Mani: “Yes, I have thought that. I told Mehera and I only just began
telling her that they met a man.”
Harry: “Do you think it was Baba?”
Mehera: "I felt it was Baba."
At this point Harry becomes very animated and excited in his
voice.
Harry: “Fantastic! Because he was a tall gentleman about six foot
or six foot two. He was cleanly dressed, simple but clean with a
properly tied turban. He had just a turban on his head - a red
turban.”
Mani: "We who know natives feel it is most unusual for a man to
come and shake hands like that and come and do that.”
Harry: “Do that, he did that just the way Baba used to do, when He
used to say, 'Oh you haven't shaved.'You know.'
Harry is referring to the times when Baba and he used to
compare the closeness of their shaves, and how Baba would
stroke Harry's chin.
Mani: “Apart from that he didn't say, oh, I know he's a doctor or
who are you, or Ram Ram or anything like that.”
Mehera said, “Did he ask any questions?”.
Harry: “No. But why didn't Eruch let him embrace me. I don't
understand it.”
Mani: “Eruch was also looking down, he was talking to you and
then suddenly he was there, you see. And you had your
apparatus there and suddenly it was automatic for him to do that.
He did contact you, he shook hands.”
Harry: "Oh definitely.”
Mani: "It's the same thing.”
Meheru: “Harry, Mehera says that because you didn't come for the
Darshan in April, Baba's giving you Darshan here.”
Harry laughs heartily and says, “You think that was Baba?”
Mehera: “Yes, definitely!”
Harry: “Really fantastic. I know he wasn't a farmer.”
Mehera: “He took the form of a farmer to come to you.”
Harry: “I said how old are you? What's your age? He said seventy-
five.”
Mehera: “Seventy-five was Baba's
age.”
Harry: “Seventy-five and it was cryptic, a terse answer. He gave
one word answers. He was giggling, laughing, you know, very
happy. Eruch said he was looking at him as though with the
attitude. Fool don't you know who I am? Don't you recognize
me?” Harry says this with a laugh in his voice.
Meheru: “Mehera says a native usually never knows their age and
even if they did they would never outright say it.”
Harry: "He said seventy-five.”
Mehera: “Baba's age. Yes, more signs that Baba gave to you and
yet you did not recognize Him.”
Harry: “I'll be dog gone! That might have been Baba.
Unfortunately, I just didn't remember. Eruch and I were deep in
a certain discussion about Baba.”
Mani: “Baba meant for you to be engrossed and not look back.'
Harry: “That's it, because somehow I didn't say turn around to see
if you could see him. I bet you if he turned around, in ten
seconds, he would have be gone. I bet you he wouldn't have
been on the road. We were on a long stretch of the Rasta road
and you could see way down the road. There were no side roads,
you see. We were right on that main road.”
Meheru: “You didn't get it on your baby either?
Harry: “I don't think so. I think when he stopped, I shut my baby
off. Because we'd been stopped on the road so many times I
figured this is just another incident. So I didn't catch it on the
baby. But he spoke low, like he didn't want to reveal his voice.”
This encounter was caught on Harry's 'baby'. And the previous
taped transcription of Harry and Eruch meeting the farmer with
the red turban was the actual encounter.
Meheru: “What was the voice like Harry?”
Harry: “Well, it was very..... I'll tell you one thing he was very
happy and he was giggling. He was very happy, you know. He
was giggling about something.”
Mani: “You said the hand wasn't like a farmer's.”
Harry: “It wasn't a farmer's. No. It almost felt a little bigger, like
the shape of Baba's hand.”
Mani: “I'll tell you something, a farmer who was seventy-five
years old, his hands would be very much like a farmers.”
Harry: “Oh, this is no farmer. He was straight, he was vigorous,
you know, vigorous, no question about it. There was vigor,
strength and clarity about him. There was nothing old about him.
He was very self-contained and had tremendous self-confidence.
Everything about him was different. He was just different.”
Mani: “And the way he was laughing, he was enjoying the joke,
you see.”
Harry: “He was giggling and he was very happy. And the way he
said jaja, you know.”
Mani: “Keep going”
Harry: “Go on with your walk.”
Harry laughs.
Meheru: “No farmer would have said that.'
Harry: “No farmer, so I knew he wasn't a farmer. So I kept thinking
about it and thinking about it. And I said was he an Abdul, you
know. Eruch said, “No I think it was Baba.' I said, I thought of
that but I don't know.”
Mani: “The jaja was accompanied by gestures, as Eruch showed us.
It was very much like Baba's.”
Harry: “Oh, really?”
Mani: “He said more than that to Eruch, take him for a walk; go on
with your walk.”
Mani demonstrates the gesture to Harry with Harry's own
hands.
Harry: “Fantastic!”
Mehera: “Wonderful experience you had.”
Harry: "It was a marvelous experience. Let's see I think it
happened that morning.”
Mehera: “On Sunday?”
Harry: “Last Sunday morning. So probably that was my Darshan
with Baba, I don't know.”
Mehera: “It shows that Baba is happy with you. He loves you.”
Harry: “Yes, you really feel that was Baba?”
Mehera: "Yes, yes definitely!”
Harry: “Fantastic!”
Mehera: “Baba could take any form He wants.”
Harry: “Any form, ah, I see, because he came taller. He was about
six foot two."
Mehera: “Yes.”
Harry: "He was chesty with broad shoulders. He was a fine looking
man.”
Mani: “Mehera says no Hindu, let alone a farmer, would do this.”
Harry: "He just took my chin, just the way Baba would, just like
that.”
Mani: "No stranger would just approach like that with arms
outstretched. They would first say Ram, Ram, where are you
going? They always go round about.”
Harry: “It was as though he was expecting us on the road. He came
with outstretched arms. I don't remember if I shook hands with
him a second time, I don't remember. It was all so quick.”
Meheru: “He both hid his identity and revealed it at the same time.”
Harry: “I see it was a wonderful experience.”
Mani: “Even shaking hands, a farmer would know that they don't
shake hands. He might have come like this. No, they don't shake
hands."
Harry: “No, he came with his hands just like that. And the rhythm
was like Baba's.”
Mani: “By the time a farmer is seventy-five he would have such
gnarled hands."
Harry: “It was like the shape of Baba's hand
the broad palm.
Because in November, 1968 Baba must have shaken hands with
me three, four or five times. We'd shake hands and He'd say,
'It's a deal.' Then He'd be talking and again He would say, 'It's
a deal.' That's the first time Baba asked me to shake hands with
Him, which was last November.”
Mani: “Oh really?”
Harry: "Oh, yes.”
Mani: “Ah, you mean Baba put out His hand first.”
Harry: “Baba indicated through Eruch, that He wanted to shake
hands. It's a deal, and Baba would say, it's a deal.”
They continued their conversation but now they were asking
Harry how many times he was embraced by Baba.
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